Ladies, get off the machines!!!
Every time I'm at my local 24 hour fitness when I do free weights all the guys stare at me like I'm weird. And now I've figured out why...I've noticed the females ALL doing the machines! I've been going here for about three weeks and have never seen a woman doing weights EVER. I've done machines before and they were a waste (maybe not a complete waste but it didn't do too much for me) of my time. It's easier, but easier is not always better, it is kind of cheating and helping you out. Your whole body is being used by free weights. I can't really bench anything yet, but I'm working on it.
Just a rant, but seriously. Get off the machines!!
They're not staring at you 'cause they think you're weird...
Agh, agreed! This being at a time I was healthier/not in recovery: when I was still at my old gym with my college, my friends would all prance off to use the machines... and then wondered why they never got any real results! (They'd do 30 reps at a time on the lowest weights, for one.) I was the only one that'd do free weights and such, and then they'd be sniggering... ah, I'd kill to have that healthy muscle back again. x:
What was WORSE, though, was when guys would ask why I WASN'T using a machine. >:|
I agree, i go to a small gym so people look at you anyway lol, but i deffinatly notice when im at the gym at school that girls are always on the machines. I dont like them personally. I prefer to do free weights becuase i can tweak the exercise more and get more muscles than i would on a machine. I also dont know how to use them for the most part lol.
Theres these two girls that go to my gym, they must be 16/17 maybe? They're already really thin but obviously not toned up...
Anyways, their routine is: giggle about in the stretch room on the gym balls; chatter away on the recumbant bikes for a few min; chatter on the rowing machine; one does a few reps on a couple of machine weights while the other starts jogging on the treadmill next to the young 'cute' guy and starts talking to him while he's clearly having a workout lol
Our gyms small, but on market day it gets overrun by elderly people (great for them doing it) but it means I can't get on the cardio equipment... the upside of it is theres always one or two weight machines available.
Not that you need any other reasons to stay away from the machines, but this study found a 111% increase in joint pain in people who used machines as opposed to free motion exercises. (they also found less strength gain on the machines)
Machines have a place, but they're overused and should not be the center focus of any regimen. And, contrary to popular belief, they're not safer.
next time your in the gym just shout out, "The Matrix has you!".... "Free yourselves!!"
Original Post by rnjt:
next time your in the gym just shout out, "The Matrix has you!".... "Free yourselves!!"
HA!! I think that's the funniest thing I've heard all day (okay, it's the morning, but still). I don't go to a gym anymore (I use free weights at home) but in college the girls really were just clones of each other. They all walked on the treadmill, maybe jogged a little, sat on a couple of machines in the weight room while giggling at the narcissistic college boys, then went into the yoga class and wondered why they were still getting a beer gut. It probably didn't help that many of them were in fact drinking most nights, but that's a story for another day. What I couldn't figure out was why they even bothered. They probably got more exercise just walking around campus and then they wouldn't have to deal with the sweaty boy stench!
yes I do free weights also. I do use the leg press machine, but that's the only one. I have muscular legs, and I run all the time, so I don't like to do a lot of squats and lunges.
There are a couple of other women who do free weights at my gym (at the times that I am there, anyway), but they have a tendency to use the 5 and 8 lb dumbbells only.
It is a little uncomfortable, it mainly being men. For the most part they're okay, every once in a while I catch them staring (do they not realize that I can see them in the mirror? I really don't know). But that's mainly during stuff like rows when I'm kneeling on the bench and my ass is in the air anyway, and frankly I would find it hard not to look at someone in that position regardless..lol.
PFFT uncomfortable, the free weight area is MY AREA of the gym! Guys can just go off and do 50 kinds of curls while I'm doing my thing.
With that said, I try to wear stuff that's not going to give someone a crotch shot or anything else of the sort
I wasted so much time on the machines and got no results...real weight lifting has kicked my ass in the best way possible.
And why be uncomfortable about being the only woman in the weight room? Think of it this way...being the only woman there means you're also the hottest woman there! 
Yeah, it's annoying when they use the machine RIGHT behind me when I'm doing something like tricep extension with my ass up in the air of course, and they kind of sit there and I can totally see it through the mirror...awkward. Well I guess that means we still got it right??
And I started off using 5 pounders, but now I'm at 12.5 and am going to start using 15s next time. I go there with my male friend sometimes and he gets all mad when someone is there lifting more than him. lol, guys are so competitive...haha.
I did the hip adductor/abductor for a while but then I never was getting any results whereas lunges/squats would make me sore for a couple days...And the ab crunch machines I can't understand becuase you could just do CRUNCHES and it would be the same except, people use their arms to push their stomach forward on the machine which you aren't supposed to do.
Original Post by spirochete:
With that said, I try to wear stuff that's not going to give someone a crotch shot or anything else of the sort
Yes this is actually good advice, everyone, including guys needs to know this. Really loose shorts are bad news if your legs are spread.
This however has led to me wearing tight bottoms, which is revealing in a non-revealing way, lol.
The problem is that the guys hog the free weights area like it is there personal space, and I always feel like I am intruding when I go down there (but I go anyway after doing cardio!) although I haven't dared try the bars yet for fear of embarrassing myself. Guys get a grip, you like the results but not the idea of us doing free weights?
I do a combo of machines and medicine balls/bosu balls/pilates bands. I find the machines are good for me to correct my form on some things, but I agree they're not optimal for everything. And I totally hear ya on the crunch machine: they're crunches, people! Grab a bosu and tell me how your machine has been working your abs after a few of those puppies!
sorry, I get kinda passionate about my balls. ;)
Girls + Free Weights = Awesome
I have nothing against free weight I used them when I was weight training however, however how do you log the calories burned???????? Is it by reps? weight?
I just figure if I can get on a machine and burn 700 calories in about 45 minutes, it's easier to caluclate. Also isn't cardio the way to lose weight? My plan is to get to my ideal weight using mostly cardio and then start weight training with my free weights and stuff. Is this a bad idea?
BTW I'm only about 6 lbs from my goal weight.
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